THE CURE

Guy Manning is a person I have a lot of respect for. He plays so many different instruments and writes great songs and always has interesting concept albums. It's his Folk side that i'm not into but that's just me and my particular taste in music. Considering his last two albums are his best yet shows he's just getting better with age."The Cure" was his second album and he offers up a variety of styles here and it's much proggier than his debut.

"Domicile" opens with strummed guitar, vocal melodies and organ before kicking in briefly. Flute and aboe then take over when it settles. It continues to change frequently. This is a feel good song for me. Sax after 6 minutes. Great tune. "Real Life" opens with samples before almost spoken vocals take over. "A Strange Place" opens with brief samples as the music kicks in. Vocals and percussion lead before a minute. Orchestral-like 3 1/2 minutes in then aboe arrives as it settles. The female vocal melodies are cool after 5 1/2 minutes. "Whispers On The Wire" features some good sounding keyboards with vocals, guitar and drums standing out. I like the electric guitar later.

"Songs Of Faith" opens with samples for about a minute before reserved vocals with acoustic guitar takes over. The vocals get fairly expressive at times. Some floating organ and I like the electric guitar 3 minutes in. Is that a fiddle after 6 minutes ? "Falling" is a song I like a lot from 3 1/2 minutes in on, especially the sax before 4 1/2 minutes. "The Cure" is the 17 1/2 minute closer. All seems well early with the birds chirping but check out the creepy section around 12 minutes and to end it. I like the sampled mellotron and atmosphere on this track.

3.5 stars.